Innsbruck, Austria – January 31, 2011: The Bergisel stadium in Innsbruck, Austria will, once again, host a festive gathering of snowboarders for the legendary 6Star Billabong Air & Style Innsbruck. The event will feature a massive straight jump for the 16 invited riders from around the world who will be competing for a share of the rich 75.000 € prize purse, the coveted “Air & Style Ring of Glory” and a maximum of 1000 TTR ranking points. The battle for the TTR Tour Champion title is really heating up and the Air & Style Innsbruck event could be a crucial result in the race to the final event, the Burton US Open, in March. Riders will also get another shot at a 6Star title one week after the Innsbruck event at the Nike 6.0 Air & Style Munich taking place on February 12th, 2011.
16 Riders Going Head to Head for the Ring of Glory
An all-star crew of riders will be dropping in on the impressive ramp constructed out of 280-tons of steel and wood on Saturday’s finals in the Air & Style’s signature “head-to-head” format. This is an exciting and unpredictable format where one rider is knocked out of contention in each round until there is one victorious rider at the end of the night. The riders will have 3 runs in each round. Last year’s winner, Slovenian Marco Grilc, will be ready to reclaim his title and to boost his TTR ranking from his current World No. 26 position. Reaching for the top spot in the TTR rankings is the two-time Swatch TTR Tour Champion Peetu Piiroinen, who with a good result here could move from his current World No. 3 position to take over the tour lead. He has had his eyes set on the title since the start of the season, as has the slopestyle prodigy, Sebastien Toutent (CAN), who already took the 6Star Oakley Shaun White Air & Style Beijing by storm back in December with a Cab 1260 Double Cork.
Riders Draw on Friday, Rookie Challenge Kicks off Action on Saturday
Anticipation for the main event will begin on Friday, February 4th when riders will gather in downtown Innsbruck for the “riders draw” which will determine the starting order for the first round of competition. Action on the jump will kick off on Saturday afternoon when young guns will take to the massive jump for the Billabong Air & Style Rookie Challenge. Up and coming riders like Ethan Morgan (GER), Pat Burgener (SUI) and Jamie Nicholls (GBR) will compete for an invite to next years Air & Style main event to ride alongside the pros. Last year, some eager rookies were throwing down at the Rookie Challenge with Belgian, Seppe Smits, taking the wildcard with a backside 1260, a trick that also landed him second at the Air & Style Beijing in December 2010.
Don’t miss any of the Live Action All the head-to-head action, from the rookies challenge to the super final, can be viewed live via webcast on February 5th at 16:30-22:00 GMT on www.ttrworldtour.com and www.air-style.com. The action continues just one week after the Air & Style Innsbruck when the Nike 6.0 Air & Style Munich goes down on February 12th at the Olympic Stadium, which will also be available to watch live via webcast. Check back to ttrworldtour.com or air-style.com for all the details. During the Air & Style events in the cities, another big celebration will go on in the mountains of Switzerland with the 20-year anniversary celebration at the 5Star Nescafé CHAMPS Leysin. The CHAMPS event will be taking place February 8th to 13th 2011.
Billabong Air & Style Innsbruck- Tirol 2011 Rider List:
Marko Grilc
Peetu Piiroinen
Werner Stock
Elias Elhardt
Markus Malin
Janne Korpi
Sebastian Toutant
Seppe Smits
Scotty Lago
Staale Sandbech
Mark McMorris
Antti Autti
Eric Willet
Sage Kostenburg
Robby Walker
